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Engaging the Bible in Mission Theology
Scholarship: Mission Practice as Moral
CraftIntroduction Following Aristotle (Nichomachian Ethics), ethics might be thought of in terms of a
craft (te,cnh) practised by a guild. This notion
highlights the roles of ends, virtues, tradition, community, friendship, apprenticeship,
and practices in ethics. To this idea of
moral craft has been added (particularly starting in the 1970s through Stanley
Hauerwas’s work) the important notion in ethics of ‘narrative’—the story-formed
identity of a community. This brief
essay offers an application of these ideas to mission practice in an outline
form for further discussion and reflection.
By seeing mission practice through the lenses of ‘moral craft’, the hope
is that the field of ethics will contribute something to mission studies. Some suggestions for discussion are offered for
each of the points briefly introduced in the following essay. 1. Ends. We need ends or goals (te,loj) to guide
our actions. …

Why Foreign Missions? 22b HeavenIntroduction We speak of ‘heaven’
as the place where the righteous/believers go after death. The previous study focused on the terms
‘sheol’ and ‘paradise’ as the place of the departed. The present study will expand this with a
focus on ‘heaven.’ Under investigation
here is to what extent should our proclamation of the Gospel offer a personal
hope beyond this life. Holistic
ministries that help the poor are rightly grounded in Scripture. Yet we need to recognize that there is a
potential (not necessary) tension between mission that is focussed on
addressing human need here and now and mission that involves pointing people to
the hope we have after death and in the future.
Also, the Prosperity Gospel, so wide-spread and so unbiblical, is a
false teaching that has infected many Evangelical and charismatic fellowships
in recent decades. It offers health and
wealth to believers here and now and has no answer to suffering and death apart
from the indi…